Chapter 123 A Triumphant Return
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As soon as the Li family members dispersed, Li's mother called on Li Shiyue to quickly take off her shoes and get on the kang (a heated brick bed). She told Li Wangming to go to the kitchen to boil water, while she took out the food that had been prepared in the pot in the kitchen and put it on the kang table, urging Li Shiyue and the others to quickly eat a bite.
"Eat quickly, if it's not enough, I'll make some right away!"
Yesterday, I looked at the sky and felt it was going to snow heavily, but you haven't sent me any news. I was lying in bed at night, worried that something might have happened to you.
"It's good that you're back, it's good that you're back."
Li Wangming went into the kitchen, rolled up his sleeves, and carried a large bundle of firewood directly from the woodpile outside. There was already a fire left in the stove to keep the rice in the pot warm. Li Wangming bent down and blew on the stove opening, then added more wood to try to make the fire burn brightly so that he could boil more water quickly.
Fifteen minutes later, Li Shiyue and Li Qiutian shared a wooden basin to soak their feet. The water was freshly boiled and very hot. Li's mother only added a little cold water before bringing it into the house.
However, Li Shiyue and the others had already warmed up a bit on the kang (heated brick bed), so soaking in hot water would be fine now.
If you've just come back, you can't just scald yourself with hot water. You have to rub it until it's warm before you can touch the hot water.
The heat that surged up from the soles of her feet made Li Shiyue shiver; she felt as if all the coldness in her body had been expelled.
After soaking their feet in hot water, Li's mother and Li Wangming brought out a large bowl of thick millet porridge and a bowl of flatbread.
"You guys eat first, I'll go cut some shredded radish for you to eat with."
Li Shiyue looked at the basin of gray flour flatbreads with some confusion. She looked at Li Wangming, who was standing by the kang (a heated brick bed), and asked, "Second Uncle, didn't we make flatbreads with all the flour at home and take them with us? How come there's still some left? Did you go to the city?"
Li Wangming walked to the stone and sat down next to it. He pushed the pancake towards the stone, urging him to eat it, before replying to Li Shiyue: "Hey, my sister-in-law said that if you come back, you'll definitely be starving. If you only drink porridge, you won't be full. So she asked Aunt Lanhua to drive me to the county town to buy noodles."
Just in time, everyone needed to prepare things before the New Year, so we all rode together in Aunt Lanhua's car and went along.
Aunt Lan Hua charged each person two copper coins, and the deal was done. She didn't take any money from me, letting me sit there for free.
Looking at the amount of pancakes in the bowl and estimating the amount of flour needed, Li Shiyue said to Li Wangming with some concern, "Does Mother have enough money to make do?"
If I had known this would happen, I wouldn't have bought so much broken rice; I should have bought more flour instead.
"You just eat, it's not your place to worry about these things in our family."
Li's mother carried a bowl of finely shredded pickled radishes into the house. As soon as she entered, she heard Li Shiyue asking Li Wangming a question.
Li Wangming glanced at his mother before saying to Li Shiyue, "My sister-in-law gave me money. I originally said I would use the money my mother left me, but my sister-in-law wouldn't let me."
Li's mother gave Li Wangming a reproachful look, then put down the shredded radish she was holding and sat down on the edge of the kang (a heated brick bed) next to Zheng Meiniang.
"I have money. If I really run out of money, I'll use your money."
Like October, you both save your own money; there will be many places where you'll need it in the future.
At this moment, Li Xiatian suddenly spoke up, saying, "We brought back a lot of good stuff this time!"
It'll definitely fetch a lot of money!
Li Shiyue took a sip of millet porridge: "Hey, I've been carrying this all the way, and I really don't know what my sister brought back."
"Quick, these are all our own people, let's pour them out and take a look."
Li Shiyue carried this heavy bundle the whole way, and she didn't have a chance to ask Li Xiatian what was inside.
Li Shiyue only brought back two curved swords from the barbarian camp, which he kept tucked into his lower back the whole way.
Although she always used the machete well, after the barbarians broke one of the machetes when they came to the village, she used another one from home. But why not take it? She couldn't use it herself, and her family couldn't use it either, so she could sell it and buy one that would be more suitable for herself and her family.
Without further ado, Li's mother and Li Wangming were also curious about what they had brought back this time.
They lifted the kang table and moved it into the kang, making a large space, and then took the three large bundles that had been on the ground and put them onto the kang one by one.
While Li Shiyue's family was sharing their spoils, the families of the others who had gone with Li Shiyue were also sharing their joy with their loved ones.
Looking at the dirty sheep on the ground, Li Wangshui felt that Zhou Lanhua was really going too far. He scalded his feet and looked at Zhou Lanhua, who was touching and looking at the bundle he had brought back with Dazhuang and Xiaozhuang on the kang. He said, "Lanniang, does this sheep have to live in the same room as us?"
"Can't we put it in the kitchen?"
Zhou Lanhua picked up a gold plate, opened her mouth and bit into it. When she saw that a tooth mark was actually left, she was so happy that her eyes almost disappeared.
After setting down the golden plate, Zhou Lanhua went to look at the dark strips of meat. While waiting for a moment, she casually replied to Li Wangshui, "There's plenty of food in the kitchen, how can we let the sheep go there?"
Turning around, Zhou Lanhua glanced at the sheep lying obediently on the ground: "Look, isn't it quite well-behaved?"
Boss, you have a bit of a smell. You don't know, your smell is stronger than this sheep's. We didn't complain about you, so why are you complaining about the sheep?
If you insist on complaining, tomorrow you can build it a nest in the yard and let it sleep there.
Li Shiyue was also very surprised and picked up the gold bowl wrapped in silk in the bundle to look at it. She didn't know anything about the craftsmanship, but just by touching the weight and feel of the gold bowl, she knew that this thing must be much more valuable than the gold itself.
"Sister, it's you!"
Li Xiatian looked at Li Shiyue and gave her a thumbs-up with admiration. She now understood that the thumbs-up meant that she was very capable.
"Haha," Li Xiatian laughed happily, "There were quite a few good things in the treasure spot that Shi Tou and I went into!"
Most of the boxes were locked, but in the rush, Stone and I managed to open one box with great difficulty. These were all inside. I tore off the tarpaulin from the wooden box lid, made a bundle, and wrapped everything up.”
Zheng Meiniang pointed to the meat strips, dried meat, and milky-smelling snacks in her bundle and said, "Your Uncle Wang Shui gave me some. When I was standing outside the yurt watching over those children, he was helping the Xuanjia Army build carts, wasn't he?"
He said it was given to him by the Xuanjia Army, and it wasn't a small amount; he had to pack other things, so he gave me some.
This successful haul made the other people in Liujiatun so envious that they couldn't sleep at night.
Especially those two people from Wangjia Village who forced Wang Shisan to lead them to join Li Shiyue's team, they must be kicking themselves now.
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